A silhouette of a family holding hands. Image by iStock.
鈥淓veryone should have someone in their life who cares about them,鈥� says Victoria Tucker, a social worker who specializes in foster care and adoption.聽
She鈥檚 embraced that motto for the past decade, connecting children with families in Massachusetts as a leader at state agencies and social service organizations since 2013.聽聽
Tucker, B.A.鈥�12, M.S.W.鈥�13, currently supervises the adoption unit at , a non-profit child and family service agency in Boston. In the past, she鈥檚 matched kids in foster care with adoptive families for the and the .
鈥淔amily can mean so much more than just your blood,鈥� says Tucker, who holds a certificate in genealogy. 鈥淗elping to find people who can step up and be a part of a child鈥檚 life even if they can鈥檛 commit to doing adoption is something I鈥檓 really passionate about.鈥�
Her roots in the adoption world date back to 2009, during her freshman year as a human development and psychology major at Boston College.
It was then that her academic adviser told her that she 鈥渟ounds like a social worker鈥� and suggested she find a summer job in the helping profession. Tucker heeded his advice, taking an internship at a private adoption agency on Cape Cod and working with orphaned children from Ukraine who were living with families in Massachusetts.
鈥淚 helped the children maintain connections with their host families and made sure they had someone sending them holiday cards and birthday cards,鈥� Tucker recalls. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 where it started. I was like, 鈥楾his is what I want to do.鈥欌��
She enrolled in the B.A./M.S.W. dual degree program her sophomore year and chose to focus her studies in the School of Social Work on children, youth, and families鈥攐ne of six academic pathways that include specialized coursework and field placements.
Tucker completed her first field practicum at The Home for Little Wanderers, providing support to families who were at risk of losing their kids to the Department of Children and Families.
She says the experience taught her the value of honoring and respecting families where they were on their journeys, not where she wanted them to be. 鈥淭hese were families that wanted to keep their children in their home, but they were struggling,鈥� says Tucker. 鈥淎nd so learning how to meet people where they鈥檙e at and not expecting them to be able to rise to a certain level because of my expectations was something my supervisor really helped me with.鈥澛�
Victoria Tucker. Courtesy photo.
As part of her role with the agency today, Tucker visits foster homes to see how kids are doing in their new environment. She has a good idea of how children are faring before she checks in鈥攕he knows if they鈥檝e been getting A鈥檚 on their tests in school, for example, or whether they鈥檝e been making friends in their new neighborhood鈥攁nd she uses that knowledge to inform the first thing she says when greeting them.聽
Tucker honed this strategy in Clinical Practice with Children and Families鈥攖he same course that she鈥檚 taught as a part-time faculty member in 51茶馆SSW since January 2022.
鈥淲e would go around the room and explain what we would say to a child the first time we ever met them,鈥� she recalls. 鈥淚 still think about that every time I go to see a child, because that鈥檚 going to set up the rest of your visit.鈥�
Tucker often uses her experiences in the field to aid her teaching. During one class, which focuses in part on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, she brings up the case of a child who would pull papers off walls as he spun into her office and struggled to sit still.
Tucker challenges students to consider what else, besides ADHD, might be going on in the child鈥檚 life to elicit such erratic behavior. She advises them to build a well-rounded understanding of the boy, considering his experiences both at home and in school, before making a diagnosis.聽
鈥淪tudents want real-life examples,鈥� says Tucker. 鈥淩eading out of a textbook or watching a movie can be helpful sometimes, but they really want to know how the things they鈥檙e learning in class apply to real life.鈥�
She tells her students that kids are fun to work with and pitches her pupils on the value of learning how to help children reach their full potential. 鈥淓very person was a child once,鈥� she says. 鈥淓ven if you want to work with adults or older adults, I think it鈥檚 really important that you understand childhood and how the impacts of your early years can affect you as an adult.鈥�
Since 2019, Tucker has given advice to aspiring social workers as a member of the 51茶馆SSW Alumni Board. She volunteers as a mock interviewer to help soon-to-be-graduates practice their interviewing skills and considers herself a sounding board for students who aren鈥檛 sure what they want to do with their degree.
鈥淎 lot of students look to us for support,鈥� says Tucker, referring to the board members. 鈥淩egardless of what our roles are as social workers, we can help students see the possibilities of the field in new and exciting ways.鈥�